Grocery store shooting leaves one dead

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - A man is dead and a killer is on the loose after a shooting Monday evening.

The Baton Rouge Police Department said it happened at Jim and Lu's Grocery Store on Government Street near 17th Street just after 8 p.m.

Relatives of the victim, Montaser Zarrouq, 32, saw how it happened through the lens of a surveillance camera.

Jim & Lu's grocery store is a 24 hour corner stop. They never close. But on Tuesday store owners, detectives and relatives looking for answers in a deadly shooting were the only ones welcomed inside.

Zarrouq was shot outside the store. The victim's cousin, Alex Asmar, talked to 9News after he watched the tragedy unfold on storefront surveillance cameras.

"He came out of the store and said hello to two individuals, got into the driver side of his car. The individual rode his bicycle across the street of 17th across Government Street shot four shots and continued straight ahead," Alex Asmar said.

Asmar said the video shows Zarrouq struggling to get back inside the store before he collapsed.

"He gets out of the passenger side, the victim, my cousin walks quickly, didn't realize he got shot and just drops inside the store."

Asmar told 9News a teenager stole the store owner's gun from under the cash register on Saturday. Asmar said police have clear surveillance video of the boy. He believes if detectives can match the bullets found outside the store to the owner's gun, they should have a good lead on a suspect. Asmar says it is what his family needs to start the healing process.

"He has five kids, a family, comes to work, comes home, very humble person."

Asmar said his cousin had only worked at the store a couple of months.

Detectives said they do not have a clear motive for the shooting or a suspect, but added it doesn't appear to be a robbery.

If you have any information on this case, call Crime Stoppers at 344-7867.